First Things First…
This episode originally aired as Episode 5.6.
Last episode, we got a really good family story about Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch discovering Magneto is their father (and him finding out they’re his kids). This looks like another family story with Rogue and Nightcrawler. As soon as I found out in “Nightcrawler” that Mystique is his mother, the fact that he’s Rogue’s brother occurred to me. I don’t know anything about this story, but I’m glad we’re getting to see that connection.
5 Things I Like
5. Nightcrawler Comforts Jubilee
“I don’t know who my parents are either. I was never really adopted like you. One family would have me for a while, then they’d get tired of me and I’d get put somewhere else. You know, I used to feel like I didn’t belong anywhere.”
Jubilee
Nightcrawlers makes solid connections with everyone.
He has an outstanding scene with Jubilee. They have an instant bond because neither one knows who their biological parents are (at least not yet, in Nightcrawler’s case), but she gets emotional when she tells him how it was different for her. She was in the foster care system, and she was never anyplace long enough to feel at home.
When Jubilee tries to understand how Nightcrawler can seem so at peace and asks him if he’s mad about being abandoned by his mother as a baby, he says…
“I suppose I am. But every day, I pray for the Lord to forgive my sins and to forgive the sins of others. Even those who have done harm to me.”
It’s good that Nightcrawler can provide some comfort to her thanks to his faith, because I really felt for Jubilee in this scene. She always tries to put on a brave face—sometimes to an annoying degree—but she’s so young and was really treated badly by the world, and by people she trusted, prior to joining the X-Men.
4. New Leadership at the Friends of Humanity
“Friends of Humanity! I thought we’d gotten rid of this filth!”
Wolverine
The Friends of Humanity are scum, but I tend to like their stories, so it’s cool to see them back.
Only now, after Graydon Creed was outed as Sabretooth’s son in “Beauty and the Beast” back in Season 2, he’s apparently been in seclusion for the past year, and there’s new leadership in town.
I don’t know who any of these guys are, or if they’re anyone I would recognize, but they’re wearing blue hoods along with their suits. They don’t really look like KKK hoods, but they certainly evoke them.
The FoH are suddenly scarier than ever. Especially because they don’t seem to be raving lunatics like Creed often is—and they don’t let Creed resume command now that he’s back.
3. Creed Goes Home
“Well, well. If it ain’t my son, the famous slayer of mutants.”
Sabretooth
Speaking of Creed…
After he messes up royally, those new leaders eject him from their plane. For a second there, I thought they sent him without a parachute.
This might be worse.
They deliver him directly to his father’s doorstep. And for the first time in what feels like a very long time, Sabretooth is here, looking like an absolute badass.
I really hope we’ll revisit this before the series ends. I’d love to hear their conversation.
2. Wolverine’s Bromance with Nightcrawler Rolls On
“Just have a little faith, pal. I hear it can work wonders.”
Wolverine
Nightcrawler’s debut earlier this season looms large over this episode, starting with how much he’s influenced Wolverine for the better. When he unexpectedly shows up at the mansion, Wolverine is happy to see him, eager to help him, and even says he owes him.
Of course, Wolverine does have a giant heart… when it comes to the people he cares about. But he’s not always quick to warm up to people. So I love seeing how much he likes and respects Nightcrawler for standing on his convictions and for trying to help Wolverine.
I don’t know what their relationship is like in the comics, but I wouldn’t have guessed they’d be such fast friends here.
1. Bittersweet Reunion
“Sad? You want to talk about sad? I am a shapeshifter. An outcast, even among mutants, trusted by no one. I don’t have a life of my own. I just steal little bits from other people’s lives. But that’s how I survive! So there’s your truth, son! I didn’t want you! Still sad for me?”
Mystique
And one more for great scene with Nightcrawler, though Mystique steals the scene…
Nightcrawler finally learns Mystique is his mother, who abandoned him when he was just a baby. (And he and Rogue learn they’re siblings.)
Mystique is cruel at first, claiming she didn’t want Nightcrawler. She shares their tragic backstory—that Nightcrawler’s father was a rich Austrian Count, and she was living a luxurious life with him until Nightcrawler was born, blowing her cover as a mutant. She resented him for that.
Mystique also makes a fascinating point about herself. I never would’ve guessed how hard she’s had it as a mutant. Even though she’s blue and obviously can’t fit in as herself, I always figured her shapeshifting powers made it easier on her than on a lot of other mutants.
Instead, she talks about never really settling into her own identity because she’s always changing. And even other mutants don’t trust her because her ability, at its core, is deception. I never thought about how tough that must be.
Despite her cruelty and efforts to push her son away, though, Nightcrawler refuses to get angry. He insists that he’ll pray for Mystique, so she can learn to forgive herself for what she did to him.
In the end, Nightcrawler seems to impact her. But I think Mystique is in a lot of pain, and her anger and cruelty is a shield for some serious self-loathing. This is the most compelling I’ve ever found her.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. So… Mystique and Sabretooth…?
“It was bad enough to find out that Sabretooth is my father. But then to learn that these freaks are what’s left of my family, it was enough to drive me mad!”
Graydon Creed
We already knew Mystique is Nightcrawler’s biological mother. He didn’t know it yet, so it’s news to him, but we knew it. That also means we already knew Nightcrawler and Rogue are siblings and were just waiting for them to find out.
We also knew that Graydon Creed is Sabretooth’s son.
But on top of all that, now we learn Mystique is also Creed’s mother… meaning Creed is also Nightcrawler and Rogue’s brother (and that Mystique and Sabretooth must’ve had a thing at some point).
The Creed reveal just felt like one step too much. Maybe it’s comics accurate, so I left room for that by putting it in this category. But truly, it felt like they went overboard with the family connections.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Mystique’s Escape
Mystique gets shot and goes over the side of the dam and into the river. A little while later, Jubilee asks if they found her, and Wolverine sounds definitive when saying no.
Meanwhile, Mystique just pops up out of the water right behind them and escapes. She’s literally within probably 100 feet of them.
And isn’t super sniffing one of Wolverine’s powers? We’ve seen him recognize the scent of Nimrod—a robot—but not Mystique?
Tim Matassa
Rogue is Mystique’s adoptive daughter, not biological